


we need to fetch back the time they have stolen from us

by raziraphale



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: (sort of), AU where Loki actually survives beyond the title card and meets the other characters, Canonical Character Death, Character Death Fix, Fix-It, Gen, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), a fix-it for my fix-it, edit: now with a bonus chapter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-03 03:59:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14560392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raziraphale/pseuds/raziraphale
Summary: “How can we trust you?” the Captain demanded, stepping in front of Bruce and advancing uncomfortably close. “After everything you did in New York?” His cold eyes were a stark reminder to Loki that this was not the same man he had fought against what seemed like a lifetime ago.“I don’t think you have much of a choice.”///AU where Loki lives to die another day. Snapshots from Thor and Loki's experience of Infinity War.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I hadn't written fanfic in years and now twice in one week??? Infinity War has truly broken me. Had to slap this one together after seeing IW for the second time yesterday. 
> 
> Obviously, INFINITY WAR SPOILERS AHEAD!!
> 
> Enjoy this AU where Loki is (slightly) less of a dumbass and doesn't try to stab the most powerful being in the universe in the neck. 
> 
> Title from Stolen Dance by Milky Chance

Loki got them away from the remains of the Ark, somehow. One moment, Thor was hunched over, feeling his metal restraints dig into his flesh as he struggled to break free. He looked up at Loki, staring up at Thanos with only the ghost of his usual smug confidence on his face. The next moment, Thor felt cold hands and the chill of familiar magic at his back, and he was whisked away in a swirl of green. He saw his brother’s decoy shimmer imperceptibly in the dim light of the Ark before vanishing completely.

When they arrive at the closest ship, Thor paid no attention to the bizarre collection of characters within as he grabbed Loki by his collar and slammed him into the wall. For a moment, he was transported back to a field on Earth – father dead, and the electricity in his fingers itching to lash out at the easiest to blame. Loki usually fit that description.

“You _coward_!” Thor shouted, giving Loki another shove as lightening crackled restlessly between them. He saw the ship’s occupants flinch in the corner of his eye, but didn’t turn to look. “Those were our people! The last of our people!”

“ _Your_ people,” Loki spat back instinctively, but recoiled a moment later as if trying to swallow the words back down. He saw Thor’s remaining eye twitch, his mouth hardening into a pained grimace. The heartbroken disappointment on his face made whatever remained of Loki’s heart ache, and he felt a response tear its way out of his throat before he could force it back down. “You are the only family I have left, brother. The sun will shine on us again, I promise.”

As if suddenly burdened with the full weight of his grief, Thor slumped forward, hands falling from Loki’s neck to land listlessly at his sides. Silence hung heavy and thick in the air of the spacecraft until its original occupants spoke, causing both brothers to start.

“Uh… hi,” said the man standing in front of the others, hands raised as if trying to tame a wild beast. “Hello, how are you. The name’s Star-Lord.” Thor saw the green woman beside him roll her eyes but the man – was he human? – continued, one arm moving slowly to brush defensively against the weapon secured at his hip. “We don’t know how you got in here or where you came from, so if don’t mind filling us on what’s going on we can avoid this turning ugly.”

“There is no time,” Loki responded before Thor could even think to speak, easily falling back into his usual, silver-tongued confidence “We have only just narrowly escaped from Thanos. We need to act _quickly_.”

“Thanos?” said the green woman, almost choking on the word as she tightened her grip on her knives. Loki froze for a moment, intimately familiar with the cold horror he saw in her eyes.

“What do you know of Thanos?” Thor asked, voice quieter and heavier as if his restraints had reappeared around his throat. The woman, who already seemed hardened by the world, visibly steeled herself further before answering.  
“I’m his daughter.”

For a moment, Thor felt that same rage rise again, redirecting itself at the woman – the daughter of _Thanos_ – in front of him. He could feel the electricity build once more beneath his skin, making it _itch_ with the need for release, to _attack_ –

He started when he felt a cold hand settle on his shoulder. Thor knew it wasn’t a real barrier, even with the magic simmering threateningly beneath cool skin he could best his brother easily, especially now that he was older and wiser to his games. And it was precisely because he was different man now that he let it go, letting the lightening flicker and die down with a tired sigh.

The silence of the revelation still hung heavy in the air, but the hostility had mostly evaporated. Thor looked between the woman and Loki as they exchanged unreadable expressions. At this moment, Thor could not hope to grasp the connection between the two of them beyond a love for daggers and the colour green, but amid the long silence the two stolen trophies of war reached a silent agreement.

Loki finally broke the silence, leaning towards the woman with his usual defiant grin.

“Would you care to help us stop him, then?”

///

Had they met in any other context, Thor thought Loki and Gamora might’ve killed one another.

Sure, they seemed to have forged some sort of weird understanding based on a stared history of unconventional adoption and a complicated sibling relationship, but at their core they were very different people. Gamora was straightforward. Thor admired the practical way she spoke, especially in the presence of her more bizarre companions.

Which wasn’t to say that Thor didn’t get along with the rest of those who called themselves the Guardians of Galaxy. Far from it.

Thor and Drax shared a mutual appreciation, and Thor could see a hint of a past, less traveled version of himself in the very literal being. He reminded him of his banishment to Midgard – the point after which everything seemed to have gone wrong, he thought with a pang of sorrow – where, though he understood the language, he couldn’t seem to pick up on the deeper layers of meaning. Thor also found himself connecting with Drax’s grief, knowing that the same drive for revenge for his family guided his spirit on.

Peter (or Star-Lord, as he had first introduced himself) was a bit different. Thor thought he had begun to understand the culture of Midgard, but found himself at a loss every time the half-human spoke. His words took unexpected twists and turns for apparently no reason, and his behaviour was often erratic and inexplicable. Thor noticed eventually that Peter seemed to deepen his voice whenever talking to him, and Thor couldn’t guess as to why. Still, Thor was comforted by the fact that the rest of the Guardians didn’t seem to know what he was saying half the time either, and Peter was nice enough, so Thor was happy to play along.

The rest of the Guardians were much easier to understand, but not as useful in planning their assault on Thanos. Mantis was a warm and kind presence on the ship, and tried to help in any way she could, though it often didn’t amount to much. Though Thor could understand Groot, his unbreakable focus on his game and sour attitude weren’t very conductive to planning. Thor admired Rocket’s leadership, but his frequent squabbles with Peter and rash, dangerous plans also weren’t ideal.

So, Thor found himself spending the most of his time aboard the Guardians’ ship talking with Gamora. The warrior reminded him strangely of Lady Sif, and he spared a brief moment to wonder sadly at his old friend’s fate. Gamora was unfailingly practical and clever, and her knowledge of Thanos was indispensable even if talking about her adoptive father seemed to pain her a great deal. She obviously cared deeply for her found family beneath her cool exterior, and was surprisingly patient with them despite her coldness as they all discussed their plan of attack.

Loki seemed to test her patience to the breaking point.

The trickster was functionally incapable of being straightforward. Even when Loki wasn’t actively trying to be deceptive, the meaning and intention of his words were always obscured behind several layers of charming asshole. Loki was clever, but usually only for his own benefit, and Thor found it impossible to attribute a word like “practical” to his dramatic and complicated brother. Conversations between Loki and Gamora carried out like a slowly inflating balloon, tension rising as Gamora continued to prod in vain for whatever Loki actually meant, caught moving in circles until one of them finally burst. Thor had already needed to intervene a few times with a defensive hand covering the handle of a dagger as one of them inevitably turned to grab theirs.

Eventually, they cobbled together some semblance of a plan.

Thor was insistent on going to Nidavellir to craft a weapon capable of killing Thanos. He saw Gamora and Loki exchange an uncertain glance when he brought it up, as if doubting anything could be strong enough. The memory of Hela crushing his hammer before his eyes rose unbidden to Thor’s mind, but he shook it off. It was the best chance they had. Rocket agreed to come with him, which meant Groot would follow as well. Thor silently agreed that separating the rabbit from the half-human was probably a good idea. Plus, he could probably use a pilot, given his questionable track record.

Thor knew that Thanos would go to Knowhere soon in search of the Reality Stone, and Gamora was set on going with the rest of the Guardians to take a chance at intercepting him or stopping him before he could continue his pursuit of the rest of the stones. Though Thor was hesitant about possibly confronting Thanos without a weapon, he knew they should at least attempt to stop him from getting his hands on yet another stone. And, even with the rage boiling under her controlled façade, Thor trusted Gamora’s ability to lead everyone out of there alive.

That still left them with one problem: someone had to go inform Earth and its mightiest heroes of the incoming storm.

Even though Thor had seen Heimdall send the Hulk to Earth with the last of his dying strength, he was uncertain about how effective it had been as a warning. Would the Hulk, as simple a creature as he was, know where to go? Could he even understand the weight of the situation? Would he even know to warn the Avengers and the rest of the people on Earth? And if, by some miracle, Banner managed to take back control, how much of the Hulk’s hazy memories would he be able to understand and pass on? Plus, neither Banner nor the Hulk knew what they now did about Thanos from Gamora and Loki. Someone would need to go to Earth.

As far as people with knowledge and experience of Earth and familiarity with the Avengers, that unfortunately left Loki as the only candidate.

“Brother, I thought we agreed that me returning to Earth was a horrible idea,” Loki argued, even though Thor suspected they both knew there was no other option “It was bad enough when I would have been among the rest of Asgard, but alone? In the middle of a war?” Thor braced his hands on Loki’s shoulders in reassurance.

“You have always had the remarkable ability to talk yourself out of certain death,” he said, squeezing Loki’s shoulder. “I’m sure you will be fine.” Loki still seemed doubtful, but still gave his brother small smile. The end of the universe didn’t really afford one many options.

The Asgardians and the Guardians exchanged brief farewells as half of them prepared to board the ship’s two escape pods. Though Rocket and Thor would be with him, the rest of the team seemed reluctant to let Groot go, yelling advice and instructions as the teen left like a worried mom sending her son off to summer camp. Groot didn’t seem to notice and continued playing his game. Rocket yelled out to his friends, warning them not to touch the powerful bomb he had neglected to mention was in a box with his stuff. The Guardians all began shouting at once, disappointed but clearly not surprised, as Rocket laughed.

Before either of them could board, Thor took Loki off-guard by wrapping his brother in a tight hug. Loki stiffened in a surprise for a moment before relaxing, tucking his head into Thor’s shoulder. Despite everything that had happened, Thor still hadn’t given Loki that promised hug after his most recent return from the dead. He suspected they hadn’t actually hugged since they were boys, or at the very least since before everything seemed to have gone to shit.

“Stay safe,” Thor pleaded in a whisper, squeezing his brother “As you said, you’re all I have left.” Loki patted his brother awkwardly on the back, still not entirely comfortable with the sudden closeness, physical or otherwise.

“I have no plans to die today, brother” Loki assured him as he pulled back, giving Thor a wry smile. “I’ve been told I’m exceptionally hard to kill.” Thor laughed, and it almost wasn’t tinged with the bitterness of knowing first-hand just how true that was.

“I’ll meet you and the Avengers on Earth once I have the weapon!” Thor assured his brother as the two of them boarded their separate vessels. The doors on the escape pods closed between them, and Loki gave a confident nod as the two brothers set of in opposite directions.

///

Loki definitely had no nostalgia for the time he spent on Midgard, but he still had to admit that he was disappointed when he finally arrived. The sight of New York in chaos was a familiar one, but looking at it still prodded uncomfortably at Loki’s memory and his newly reformed sense of guilt. After an entire journey spent bracing himself to meet a group of people that hated him to his core and rehearsing the perfect words to weasel himself out of any immediate consequences, it was a shock to find that the Avengers were no longer residing in that tower that seemed to have been transforming into some sort of headquarters when Loki had last left. Though Loki was grateful that there’d be no chance of him being locked in the same room they had held him in after his capture the first time, he still had to find wherever the Avengers were now.

Digging around eventually led him to a huge compound not too far away, its sprawling layout making it that much easier to pass unnoticed into one of its many side buildings with some simple magic. Arriving eventually in what seemed to be the main building, Loki had to admit he was a little shocked by the sight of the people in front of him.

The gathered people (were they the Avengers?) were a mixed bag of the familiar and the unfamiliar. Loki didn’t recognize over half of them. There was a woman in the corner that emanated a powerful, unsettling energy, and Loki hoped more than ever that his introduction didn’t turn into a fight. Standing hunched beside her was a bizarre red and green man (was he a man?) who seemed just as capable of killing Loki instantly even in his injured state. There were two other unfamiliar men with metal enhancements on their legs and back, respectively. They reminded Loki of Tony Stark and his robotic armour, and he was equally reluctant to draw their ire.

Loki didn’t immediately recognize the last two people in the room until he saw the flash of surprised recognition on their own faces. Ah. He remembered the spy and the soldier from his last run-in with the Avengers, but clearly much had changed. They both looked tired and pale, and the Captain seemed to have abandoned his ridiculously patriotic outfit. A shame, to be sure. Loki had enjoyed mocking it.

The absences in the room were also painfully noticeable. Loki scrubbed his memory to fill in the missing pieces. The lack of Tony Stark and his annoyingly large head was obvious (and, admittedly, welcome), and there was no sign of the archer that had briefly been Loki’s underling. The Hulk seemed to be absent to, and while Loki was secretly relieved not to have to deal with the terrifying being, admittedly this fact complicated his introduction.

“Now before you say anything –” Loki started as he saw some of the looks of confusion transform slowly to rage.

“Loki?” the Captain interrupted. He appeared to be trying for incredulously angry, but he only managed to sound tired and exasperated, like Loki invading would just be another annoyance on an already terrible day.

“Yes, _but_ ,” Loki replied firmly, putting his open palms in front of him in surrender “I am here to bring a message, just let me explain –”

“A message from Thanos?” Black Widow said coldly, her hands subtly reaching towards her weapons. Loki could see the rest of the Avengers visibly tense at her words as they followed her lead and readied themselves for a fight.

Loki could not help the frustrated noise that came out of his mouth. “Thor sent me, so if you would just listen to me, I –”

“Thor?” came a familiar shout from the back of the room, and Loki turned to see Bruce walk nervously into the room. Loki couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief that he wouldn’t have to be dealing with the other one. Bruce walked up him, seemingly just as relieved to see a surviving passenger from the Ark, until he stopped suddenly halfway across the room, his features hardening. “Where’s Thor?”

“He’s fine,” Loki assured him quickly, and he could see at least some of Bruce’s shattered nerves calm. “We were rescued by a group that called themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy.” Loki fought not to roll his eyes at the grandiose title before continuing his account. “Thor took some new companions to forge a weapon to kill Thanos, and the rest of them have left in search of the Reality Stone. I was sent here to bring you all I know.”

“How can we trust you?” the Captain demanded, stepping in front of Bruce and advancing uncomfortably close. “After everything you did in New York?” His cold eyes were a stark reminder to Loki that this was not the same man he had fought against what seemed like a lifetime ago.

“I don’t think you have much of a choice.”

The tense staring contest that followed was only broken by Bruce placing a nervous hand on the Captain’s elbow.

“I don’t trust him either, Cap, but he saved us all on Asgard. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him.”

Loki couldn’t help but shoot the Captain a smug smirk.

Eventually, Steve deflated with an exhausted sigh, his head falling low as if the weight of the world were pressing down on his neck.

“Fine,” he said, defeated, as he turned to the rest of the Avengers. “Now, where were we?”

///

Landing in Wakanda, Loki felt an unexpected pang of grief for the loss his home. The sprawling nation – tucked away in its own bubble, ruled a royal family, and abundant in resources and technology – reminded him strangely of the Asgard he knew as a boy, seemingly untouched by the problems of the universe beyond. However, like on Asgard, he knew the universe would soon come and make its mark on Wakanda.

The Avengers still watched him suspiciously as they disembarked from the Quinjet, but Loki was just glad he had managed to avoid being restrained. The threat of Thanos hanging over his head and the presence of a sleeping Hulk in the vicinity was more than enough to keep his mischievous tendencies subdued.

As the rest of the team exchanged pleasantries with the King and his people, Loki found his gaze drifting to the sky beyond Wakanda’s forcefield, wondering about the fate of his brother and the Guardians.

///

When the fight began proper, Loki wasn’t entirely sure he had grasped the full weight of what was at stake. After fighting for and destroying the only home he’d ever known what seemed like yesterday, Loki had to admit he was still a little off-balance. Before that, his father had died in front of him (it had probably been his fault, too), and his sister had knocked him into some pocket universe, left with only trash and the agonizing conviction that he had indirectly caused the destruction of his entire home and family. Before even that, Loki remembered the hopeless frustration of being locked in a cage, and the guilty hollowness of his mother’s death.

With everything that had happened, his first contact with Thanos seemed like a distant awful memory of a different Loki, one that only knew rage and betrayal. On Sakaar, he remembered his brother standing over his seizing body and claiming that Loki never changed, but thinking about that version of himself that had worked with Thanos to attack New York made him feel slightly ill. He would always be the God of Mischief, and with that came a certain expected level of deception and mayhem, but he wasn’t a conqueror. Not really.

Loki flitted from location to location on the plains throughout the battle, never staying in one place long enough to focus enemy attention on him. His favourite strategy was letting Thanos’ army of abominations tackle one of his decoys, only for him to appear behind them and dispatch them swiftly with a dagger to the neck. When the forces became overwhelming, Loki froze large sections of oncoming enemies, and those who had tackled nearby allies.

He felt Thor’s presence before he saw him. Loki felt the sudden drop in pressure that signified the appearance of the Bifrost and felt the hair on his neck stand on end as static electricity built in the hot air around them. Then, a crack of lightening and the deafening roar of thunder rolled across the battlefield, and everyone turned to look as Thor appeared gripping an impressive axe.

“Ohhhhh,” Loki heard Bruce shout from within his sparking and collapsing armour “You guys are _so_ screwed.” Loki grinned, and privately agreed.

///

Loki was pushing himself up on his elbows where Thanos had thrown him aside earlier when he finally saw Thor sink Stormbreaker into the Titan’s chest. Loki had to stop himself from crumpling back onto the ground in relief, completely drained of magic and energy. He met his brother’s eyes briefly over Thanos’ shoulder, sharing a triumphant look before the Titan suddenly spoke.

“You should have aimed for the head.”

Loki felt his blood run even colder as Thanos raised his massive, gold-plated fist to snap his fingers. The sharp sound seemed to reverberate across the now-silent battlefield before the Titan feel backwards, disappearing into a portal.

Everyone in the vicinity shuffled unsteadily to their feet, confusion and fear clear on their faces as their eyes darted around erratically looking for evidence of what Thanos had done.

Loki witnessed the long-haired man with the metal arm vanish first.

“Steve?” the man called, sounding perplexed. He moved to step towards the Captain, but his boot never struck the ground, his body disintegrating into the wind before everyone’s eyes.

One by one the allies around them started crumbling to dust at random. Loki couldn’t even recall their names before they ceased to exist before him.

Loki felt oddly light-headed, but he wasn’t sure if it was from exhaustion or the shock of seeing half of Midgard vanish as suddenly as Thanos had. He moved to walk towards his brother, but felt himself wobble, collapsing suddenly to his knees.

“Loki?” Thor cried, concerned. Loki looked up to see his brother rush to close the gap between them, extending both of his hands as if to haul him upwards by the shoulders.

They never made it there, shaking fists clenched only around dust.


	2. Bonus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so I had intended for the first chapter to be the final one, but between this and my [ other iw fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14522331) I felt like I was being needlessly cruel to Loki and Thor. They've been through enough, dammit!!
> 
> So please enjoy this optional, bonus chapter with some light avengers 4 speculation that will _actually_ work as a fix-it fic
> 
> As always, let me know about any major errors and comments fill me with joy. Thanks for reading!! xx

When all was said and done, everyone agreed that Thor should be the one to set things right. Or, at the very least, no one had protested when he’d lifted the gauntlet from Thanos’ remains.

Tony still looked a little ragged from his journey back to Earth with Nebula, and Thor watched as his fists clenched and unclenched as if itching to take the gauntlet himself and haul all he had lost back from the darkness. Steve had a similar aura to him, but less pronounced. His was a colder grief, as if his most recent loss had only hardened him further.

“Are you sure you can handle it?” Steve asked flatly, clearly not giving himself any chance to get his hopes up. Thor had no such hang-ups, and let a smile start to stretch across his face, relieved and hopeful.

“Yes,” Thor replied simply, weighing the gauntlet in two flat palms “I am certain.”

After all, he had wielded Stormbreaker, defeating Thanos, and was the only god among them. A mortal could not survive the power of one Infinity Stone, let alone six. Hadn’t Loki possessed two at once, back when the Avengers had first formed? The pang of loss Thor felt at the thought of his brother was almost outweighed by his excitement at his _certainty_ of seeing him again. If Loki – though his equal in many ways, not when it came to raw power – could manage two, Thor was certain he could bring his brother and all his friends back with six.

“If you can,” interjected Tony, voice as tense as his clenched fists as Thor moved to slip the gauntlet on, “Make everyone that died on Titan reappear here. Save us the trip.” The attempt at levity fell flat, and Thor nodded in understanding.

Thor closed his eyes as he placed his hand fully into the gauntlet.

Returning those whom Thanos had turned to dust ended up being as easy as Thanos had made it appear. With scarcely a thought beyond an innate _need_ to replace all they had lost and a quick snap of his fingers, it was done.

Just like they had disappeared, their fallen allies reappeared one by one, as if the dust in the air of the Wakandan plains had suddenly condensed to form fully-fledged beings in midair. Thor turned on the spot, taking in the entire plains and witnessing various tearful reunions in his periphery.

Steve and Bucky held each other tightly, foreheads pressed together and grinning in giddy relief. Sam returned and promptly joined them, running over to loop two long arms around the both of them with an excited shout. Natasha and Bruce joined them more slowly, hanging back before extending reassuring hands to their friends’ shoulders.

The boy, Peter, reappeared next, looking around in confusion for all of two seconds before Tony rushed over, closing him in a searing hug as if trying to keep him safe forever. Soon after, Rhodey approached Tony from behind, placing a hand on his back as if trying to do the same.

When T’Challa rose from the dust, he was immediately surrounded by his family and close friends. He seemed to quickly resign himself to death once again, this time by strangulation as his sister wrapped herself tightly around him and the rest of them followed suit. Okoye alone stood back, giving her king space, but she was barely keeping her stoic façade together in the face of T’Challa’s return. She gripped her weapon, her knuckles straining with the force of her grip, and the muscles of her stone face twitched with the need to break into relieved sobs.

The wizard, Dr. Strange appeared as if he had stepped casually into existence, completely composed. Thor couldn’t help but smile, still somewhat sadly, at the thought of his last encounter with the sorcerer, where he had handled Loki as if he were only a particularly angry child. Wong offered Dr. Strange a small smile and a firm nod as he made his way to his side, the two of them looking indifferently over the former battleground.

Wanda appeared next. Thor almost didn’t recognize her, having been gone for years since the incident with Ultron. She appeared confused for a long moment, standing alone in the field, before her expression warped into one Thor knew well, for he had already seen it on her face as well as his own. Sudden, overwhelming grief. Her magic pulsed in the red haze around her and she collapsed, wailing and tugging her hair out at the roots. Thor saw Natasha move away from Steve’s group to approach the grieving woman, but Thor suddenly turned before he could see Natasha offer any comfort, drawn by a familiar shade of green.

Loki.

He had appeared where Thor had last seen him what seemed like an eternity ago. He knelt there, chest heaving in surprise and fear. He had a pale, haunted look on his face, Thor noticed with an ache, with grief etched into every line.

“Loki?” Thor prodded tentatively, partly to get his brother’s attention but also to convince himself that he wasn’t hallucinating the sight in from of him. Loki jumped, as if shocked, and looked up at Thor in surprise.

“I saw Mother,” he said simply, and Thor could read all the meaning that hung heavy on those words. He could feel his brother’s grief at being once again ripped from his mother’s side, but also the bittersweet joy of having seen her. He could feel his brother’s honest shock, relief, and an odd sense of pride for having joined his loved ones in Valhalla despite everything.

And of course, Thor could see the rare warm expression that began to spread across Loki’s face as he stood up. He thought of that moment, back on the Ark a lifetime ago, when Loki caught that crystal bottle top in his palm, and in that second Thor felt at home, with the only family he had left.

“Loki,” Thor repeatedly dumbly, staggering forward to embrace his brother, only stopping when he saw Loki look down at his outstretched hands, eyes wide and uncharacteristically afraid.

The Infinity Gauntlet.

“We need to destroy it,” Loki said suddenly, maintaining a wary distance.

Thor agreed, but did not respond. He instead thought of his brother, back on Svartalfheim, fantasizing about possessing the power of the Reality Stone for himself. He thought of Loki, tempted by the Tesseract’s song and pocketing it in secret as Asgard crumbled around him. His brother’s fear reminded him of how much things had changed, but it also made Thor painfully aware of the power he held in his hands and that pulsed through veins. He could feel his body start to hum and vibrate, like an overheated engine waiting to explode.

Before Thor could say anything, a newly familiar voice broke through his rising panic.

“We can’t, not yet.”

The Guardians had reappeared on the plains, huddled together like animals braving themselves against the cold. Thor began to smile at the sight of his new friends, but his expression fell when he noticed the harrowed look on their faces, and the noticeable absence amongst their family.

“We need to bring Gamora back,” Peter spoke again, voice gruff with emotion and tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. He looked about as stable as Thor felt. “Where is she?”

“Thanos traded her life for the Soul Stone,” said Nebula flatly from where she stood off to the side, having no one’s return to celebrate. “I’m not sure such a trade can be undone.”

“It has to!” Peter yelled, storming over to Nebula and causing her to flinch “What kind of shitty outfit does the universe think it’s running that it can’t take refunds or exchanges? Now we’re stuck with Thanos’ crappy jewellery while Gamora is _gone_!” Nebula withdrew, folding her arms tightly over her chest and avoiding Peter’s eyes, clearly overwhelmed.

“If it’s the Soul Stone the universe wants,” Thor interjected, seeing Nebula’s mechanisms twitch in restrained violence and moving to draw Peter’s attention “then it’s a small price to pay for Gamora’s life.”

“What about Vision?” Wanda interrupted, looking up from where Natasha had been comforting her with a steady arm around her shoulders. “What about the Mind Stone?”

“Now that we have returned everyone that we had lost here,” Thor said, fighting to keep his voice calm and even over the rush of pure power flooding through his veins “We can try to trade the stones for Gamora and Vision. Then we can destroy the rest.” Thor looked to his brother as he finished, and saw Loki nod minutely in relief.

Thor looked around the plains, taking in the sight of his friends, both new and old, reunited once again. The air of Wakanda was heavy with a mix of joy and lingering, suffocating grief. There was still more to be done.

He closed his eyes, and without the distraction of the people around him, the power of the Infinity Stones was nearly too much to bear. Energy burned through his veins like lava carving through rock, and the entirety of his skin and insides felt like they had been scraped raw.

First, he thought about all those who had perished in the initial attack on Earth. He felt the Time Stone reach back into the past, green coils of energy reconstructing buildings and cities, people and families. Thor felt their every prick of their pain as he undid all that had been done, and couldn’t hold back his scream. It would be like Thanos had never been there.

Next, he thought of his people back on the Ark. Heimdall. Valkyrie. Korg, Miek. Thor continued to scream as he ripped what had remained of Asgard and the refugees of Sakaar back from whatever lie beyond. Distantly, just beyond the perception of those on Earth, the Ark returned to life and continued its journey homeward. Thor tried to smile, but only managed to grit his teeth in anguish.

Just as the images of Gamora and Vision formed in his mind, Thor paused.

How far back should he reach into the past? Even without the Infinity Stones, Thanos had already killed billions, trillions of people, entire planets left decimated in his path. Should he bring back Xandar? Knowhere? Gamora’s people on Zen-Whoberi? Thanos’ people on Titan? How far did Thanos’ slaughter stretch?

Even the stones themselves had a high death toll that spanned a much greater period. Would Frigga have died without the existence of the Reality Stone? What about the victims of the Space and Mind Stones when Loki had wreaked havoc on Earth? How many had died over the millennia as the stones passed from hand to hand, planet to planet?

As Thor struggled to grab hold of his spiraling thoughts, he felt the gauntlet’s power surge. For one bright, searing instant, the world burned as hot as a dying star.

And then, nothing.

///

Something was wrong.

Thor had been yelling for the past few minutes as if trying to balance the entire weight of a planet on his broad shoulders, but Loki hadn’t doubted his ability fix everything until now. Thor’s eyes, which had been closed, snapped open. His eyes were not their normal blue, nor did they shine with bright white electricity like they did when he channeled his lightening.

Instead, Thor’s eyes were a dull, empty black. They seemed to absorb the light around them, burrowing into his brother’s skull like two black holes.

Without thinking, Loki lurched forward, taking the gauntlet on Thor’s hand into both of his own.

///

Thor’s awareness came back in an instant. A numbing cold shot through his body from his left hand, calming his raw nerves and settling his scattered thoughts. The cold did not tame the fire, but granted Thor a return to his precarious control of the most powerful object in the universe.

Thor didn’t remember having opened his eyes, but his vision slowly returned to him after a few blurry moments.

Standing in front of him, face pale and clammy, was Loki.

“Are you alright?” Loki said breathlessly, in a rare display of naked emotion, his grip tightening on the gauntlet as it hummed.

Despite himself, Thor thought back to that skinny, greasy child he grew up with that always hovered nervously on the sidelines of Thor’s childhood brawls. At least, that is, until he mastered his magic, then he was the one on the sidelines secretly causing them. Thor finally managed some semblance of a smile.

“Never better, brother.” Loki smiled back. It was a shaky, brittle smile, but a smile nonetheless.

“Let us bring back the rest of your friends then, shall we?”

“ _Our_ friends,” Thor insisted, and let out another scream of exertion before Loki could protest.

///

In an instant, the Infinity Gauntlet exploded into a point of white light.  

Despite having both his hands clutched tightly around the outside of it, Loki didn’t feel a thing as it disappeared. It was as if the gauntlet had simply ceased to exist, leaving Loki’s hands enclosed around his brother’s left hand.

Vision gasped as he blinked back into existence. Loki still wasn’t sure the being had any lungs, and was deeply unsettled by the very mortal way in which he crumpled to the ground, chest heaving as though he himself had clawed his way back to the world of the living. Almost immediately, the sorceress from earlier, Wanda, had her arms wrapped around him, weeping openly in relief. Seeing such powerful beings grasp at each other like they were the only two left in the universe, Loki made a mental note not to piss them off.

At the very same moment, Gamora reappeared amongst the Guardians, and was instantly swallowed in a group hug. Peter held her the closest, face tucked into her shoulder, and hands frantically tracing the length of her just to make sure she was really there. Mantis was making a clear effort to make contact with all of the Guardians at once, her expression nearly bursting with the joy contained among them.

Nebula hung awkwardly of the group before they opened up enough for a green hand to emerge, dragging her into the hug. In his short acquaintance with her, Nebula hadn’t struck Loki as the type of person who ever smiled, and he was surprised to catch a glance at the robot’s grin as she went voluntarily into her sister’s crushing embrace. On Gamora’s behalf, he felt a contented ache in his chest seeing the two troubled siblings reunited. The two of them really weren’t so different.

There were no signs of the remaining Infinity Stones.

Loki caught a glimpse of Dr. Strange in the corner of his eye, looking slightly put out at the loss of his sacred charge, and allowed himself a petty surge of satisfaction. Second-rate sorcerer.

“Is it over?”

Thor’s voice, uncharacteristically weak, broke Loki out of his thoughts. His brother was looking around him, looking exposed and disoriented. Thor didn’t seem to notice his hand still clutched in Loki’s, and Loki could feel it tremble minutely.

“It’s over,” Loki answered, and was surprised to find his voice just as frail “Everything will be alright.”

For once in a very long time, he meant it.

**Author's Note:**

> as always, if you spot any glaring errors that slipped me by, please let me know!! thanks for reading and have a good day !! xxx
> 
> feel free to cry about infinity war with me on [tumblr](http://masayoshihazama.tumblr.com).


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